Archives: January 2007

This, Too, Is Miami

Posted by: Peter Coy on January 29

As Super Bowl Sunday in Miami's Dolphin Stadium approaches, labor activists and low-income housing advocates are trying to call attention to the other Miami, where poor people are being hemmed...

The Mighty Mortgage Machine

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on January 25

A recent report from Standard & Poors, the debt rating agency owned by BusinessWeek's parent company McGraw-Hill, shows the shifting nature of the mortgage market. Higher interest rates and...

Why We Ignore the Margin of Error--And Everyone Else Does, Too

Posted by: Peter Coy on January 25

A reader named Dave makes an important point in a comment on my item last week about the supposed 4.5% rise in housing starts in December. Dave says--accurately--that we don't...

L.A. Builds Up and (Possibly) Underground

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on January 22

Los Angeles' energetic mayor Antonio Villaraigosa trotted out a telling statistic at an event inuagurating the city's newest office tower, 2000 Avenue of the Stars, last week. Villaraigosa said...

Everything Old Is New Again

Posted by: Peter Coy on January 19

"Everything Old Is New Again" isn't just a song; it's a real-estate sales strategy. When properties sit on the market too long and get stale, some agents yank them briefly,...

Housing Starts: Borrowing from the Future?

Posted by: Peter Coy on January 18

Don't be overly impressed by the government's report today that housing starts in December rose 4.5%, while permits were up 5.5% for their first increase in 11 months. The report...

The New Chief at KB Home

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on January 17

It's not easy filling someone else's shoes, especially if that someone is long time KB Home chief exec Bruce Karatz. Karatz built a reputation as an innovative marketer, once...

People are still betting in Vegas

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on January 12

The Las Vegas Strip is still reeling them in, despite a real estate slump elsewhere in the city. MGM reports that its massive $7 billion CityCenter mixed use project has...

'F' in Economics for Move Inc. Exec

Posted by: Peter Coy on January 11

I give Allan Dalton of Move Inc. an 'F' in economics for comments he made this week at Brad Inman's Real Estate Connect NYC conference. The 'F' is for Dalton's...

Behind Horton's Numbers

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on January 09

Fort Worth-based D.R. Horton Inc., the nation's largest home builder, reported disappointing results today, saying its orders for new homes had fallen 23% for the quarter ending Dec. 31, to...

Fuzzy Realtor Numbers?

Posted by: Peter Coy on January 05

Dear Readers, I posted an item yesterday questioning the precision of MLS data in Phoenix, Tucson, and Las Vegas, but several people are questioning my questions, so I pulled the...

Lenders scrambling from subprime

Posted by: Dean Foust on January 03

Who thinks that the subprime market is a tinder box ready to blow? Apparently, some of the Wall Street lenders are starting to worry that that's the case. This article...

14-Room Apt. on Park Avenue: $750,000?

Posted by: Peter Coy on January 02

The co-op apartment on New York's exclusive Park Avenue at 70th Street is fit for a billionaire: 14 rooms with five maids' rooms and a 37-foot gallery. According to The...